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How Bizzy Burger in Dallas plans to compete with McDonald’s

Bizzy Burger was created by two of Dallas’ best-known chain restaurant entrepreneurs.

The Dallas entrepreneur who created Asian fusion restaurant Pei Wei is back with his next big idea. Bizzy Burger opened on Black Friday near Galleria Dallas, selling a small menu of burgers and just two sides: tater tot fries and kimchi.

Mark Brezinski eyes the McDonald’s in the same parking lot. He can see it right there.

Dallas entrepreneur Mark Brezinski, creator of Bizzy Burger, has spent his career working in...
Dallas entrepreneur Mark Brezinski, creator of Bizzy Burger, has spent his career working in and with restaurants.(Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)

“I’m definitely going after fast food,” he says of the approach behind Bizzy Burger.

“I’ve always wanted to make fast food better.”

He co-founded Bizzy Burger with Larry Lavine, the Dallas entrepreneur who co-created Chili’s in Dallas. Lavine is known as a burger obsessive restaurateur, and he thinks Bizzy’s double cheeseburger is just right in size and taste. It’s petite. Salty, with crispy edges on each beef patty.

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Between Lavine and Brezinski, they’ve had a hand in many North Texas-born chains. Brezinski co-created Velvet Taco, Bengal Coast, Tin Star, Marugame and others. He’s worked with Brinker International (which today owns Chili’s and Maggiano’s), Yum Brands (creating small brands alongside the flagships KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell), and Trinity Groves, picking and placing incubator chefs in West Dallas.

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Brezinski’s first job, at age 16, was flipping burgers in New Jersey.

He calls Bizzy Burger “the anti chain,” but he’s not afraid to say that he wants to scale it to dozens or hundreds of locations.

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Bizzy Burger opened in Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport first. The Dallas location is the second. Brezinski has visions of taking his Texas fast-food shop to dozens — or more — airports, stadiums and college campuses. At least two more Bizzy Burger restaurants are planned for the North Texas area soon.

No lettuce, tomato or onion

Bizzy Burger might be the only burger joint in Dallas-Fort Worth that will not have lettuce, tomato and onion on each burger.

Customers order here, in front of a case that shows which vegetables are used in the...
Customers order here, in front of a case that shows which vegetables are used in the burger's Blendz. Just plain lettuce is not an option.(Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)

Customers will order a single ($3.50), double ($5.50) or triple ($7.50) patty, cheese or no cheese, and then choose the option to add five vegetable-based “Blendz.” Examples include a scoop of roasted garlic and sweet onion; wild mushroom mix; or a sweet-spicy Korean barbecue blend. See the menu here.

Adding mayo or mustard isn’t an option. There’s no avocado. Brezinski reiterates: This is not a fast-casual restaurant, and it’s not meant to compete with Hopdoddy, Shake Shack and Liberty Burger. He’s going up against McDonald’s and other inexpensive fast-food burger joints.

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“It’s turning the key on fast food,” Brezinski says. “I’m a little irreverent.”

The only non-meat option is a “veggie stack,” a pile of vegetables, thinly sliced and sauteed. “I don’t want it to look like a burger,” Brezinski says, and it’s not formed into a patty. “I wanted it to look like vegetables.”

All burgers are served on King’s Hawaiian rolls, a sweet, squishy bun.

Bizzy Burger's buns and patties are not Texas-sized.
Bizzy Burger's buns and patties are not Texas-sized. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)

The restaurant is styled so that customers can walk through the line and self-serve a drink before they walk up to the ordering counter.

He’s got a strategy here, too: Brezinski says fewer than half of fast-food customers order a drink. Perhaps giving autonomy to customers will convince them to spend a few bucks on a beverage. Drinks are from Real Sugar Soda, an Oak Cliff company. (That’s right: No Dr Pepper, Coke or Diet Coke.)

The restaurant also sells vanilla oolong iced tea, which Brezinski likes from his years creating Asian fusion restaurants; and two frozen drinks whirring in machines behind the Dallas cash register: a non-alcoholic Thai Coco Freeze and a boozy frozen Bloody Mary.

A frozen Bloody Mary?

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“Interesting, right?” Brezinski says.

The one potato-based side option at Bizzy Burger is tater tot fries. They're like skinny...
The one potato-based side option at Bizzy Burger is tater tot fries. They're like skinny hashbrowns that are the width of a steak fry.(Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)

A restaurant that’s ‘simple’

For a fast-food place, Bizzy’s menu is slim. Industry veteran Brezinski has seen that work at restaurants like Chick-fil-A and Raising Cane’s. He’s studied them.

Dallas' first Bizzy Burger is on Montfort Drive, near Interstate 635.
Dallas' first Bizzy Burger is on Montfort Drive, near Interstate 635.(Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)

The first Dallas location for Bizzy Burger is situated on Montfort Drive near Interstate 635, which Brezinski calls “in the shadow of the Galleria.” It isn’t a sexy location, but it’s easy in, easy out. It shares a parking lot with Target and is across the street from the former Valley View mall, which has been in development for nearly a decade.

Future Bizzy Burgers might have drive-throughs. The co-creators say the restaurant’s fast-food model needs a drive-through, though vacant drive-throughs aren’t as available to rent as they were in early pandemic days, Brezinski says.

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During an interview inside the first Dallas restaurant, Brezinski kept coming back to the same explanation to most questions: Why not offer lots of starchy sides? Why use the same kind of bread? Why not have turkey burgers, lamb burgers and the like?

“We want to keep it simple,” Brezinski says.

Bizzy Burger is at 13251 Montfort Drive, Dallas. It opened Nov. 25, 2022. Closed Mondays for now.

For more food news, follow Sarah Blaskovich on Twitter at @sblaskovich.